Data Backup and Why Your Business Needs It

Your data and the information derived from it is extremely critical to your business. However, too many small business owners take chances with their data by not having a system for backing their data up. What follows are five good reasons why you need to back up your data regularly.

Basic Data Recovery

A simple and honest mistake on the part of an employee can wipe out critical documents and files. Your data is too valuable to leave at risk like that, which is another reason why you need to back up your data. Whether it was information on new leads gathered the previous week that someone accidentally deleted, your hard drive failed, or your customer database that has fallen prey to ransomware, a backup system is your best bet for recovery.

Online Threats

Another threat to your data is hackers. In the past, hackers were content to make copies of your data; however, those days are past. One of the most insidious threats to your data may be ransomware, where a hacker literally takes your data, encrypts it, and then holds it for ransom. Either you pay them the money they demand (usually in the form of e-currency like bitcoin) or your data will basically be scrambled. To make matters worse, there is no guarantee that the hacker will provide you the correct encryption key if you do pay the ransom. Besides a good online security package, your best bet to protect against ransomware is a data backup.

Lost Time

There are two ways you can lose time in connection with not having a good backup: the first is redoing work and the second is downtime.

As an example, let us suppose that an employee spent several hours creating a spreadsheet for modeling suggested changes to how you do business only to have it disappear from the shared file system. You could ask that employee to recreate the missing spreadsheet, but that would be wasting time when that employee could be working on something far more productive. On the other hand, with a backup in place, you could have that file retrieved.

There is also downtime associated with recovering from a data loss. And every second of that downtime costs money that you may not be able to recover easily. Downtime is very expensive, but a robust data backup system will minimize both the downtime and its impact on your bottom line.

Remaining Competitive After a Natural (or Unnatural) Disaster

Suppose a hurricane and its aftermath (flooding, power outages) were to take down you and your competitors. Whoever can get their system up and running and first will have a clear advantage. And you can be the one with that advantage if you invest in a robust backup system. Ideally, such a backup system would include not just your data but your operating system and applications as well.

Archives

Another key reason why backup systems are so important involves archival data. You never know when you might need access to certain files from the past — it could be a financial audit or a compliance inspection. You can’t afford to lose access to critical files and databases, and let’s face it: regulatory bodies don’t care why the data is missing when it comes time to levy fines against you. The most reliable way to archive files you may need later is through a backup system.

Conclusion

Servers fail, hackers scramble files, and disasters (both natural and unnatural) can take down your systems. You need a reliable data backup system to protect the files that are critical to your organization, both for today’s business and tomorrow’s audits. Backups provide peace of mind, minimize downtime and redundant work, and can provide you with a significant competitive edge when disaster strikes. It’s not a matter of whether you can afford a backup — it’s a matter of whether you can afford not to have a backup.

Maryland IT Solutions

If you need a backup system that is reliable and encrypted, then contact Maryland IT Solutions. Whether you prefer an on-site backup system or an off-site backup in the cloud, we can help implement a solution for you that includes industry-leading encryption and conforms to any compliance regulations that you follow. Contact us today!